Myths and Legends of China

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Tou Mu, Goddess of the North Star

Tou Mu wears the Buddhist crown, is seated on a lotus throne, has three eyes, eighteen arms, and holds various precious objects
in her numerous hands, such as a bow, Page 145spear, sword, flag, dragon’s head, pagoda, five chariots, sun’s disk, moon’s disk, etc. She has control of the books of life
and death, and all who wish to prolong their days worship at her shrine. Her devotees abstain from animal food on the third
and twenty-seventh day of every month.

Of her sons, two are the Northern and Southern Bushels; the latter, dressed in red, rules birth; the former, in white, rules
death. “A young Esau once found them on the South Mountain, under a tree, playing chess, and by an offer of venison his lease
of life was extended from nineteen to ninety-nine years.”

Snorter and Blower

At the time of the overthrow of the Shang and establishment of the Chou dynasty in 1122 B.C. there lived two marshals, Chêng
Lung and Ch’ên Ch’i. These were Hêng and Ha, the Snorter and Blower respectively.

The former was the chief superintendent of supplies for the armies of the tyrant emperor Chou, the Nero of China. The latter
was in charge of the victualling department of the same army.

From his master, Tu O, the celebrated Taoist magician of the K’un-lun Mountains, Hêng acquired a marvellous power. When he
snorted, his nostrils, with a sound like that of a bell, emitted two white columns of light, which destroyed his enemies,
body and soul. Thus through him the Chou gained numerous victories. But one day he was captured, bound, and taken to the general
of Chou. His life was spared, and he was made general superintendent of army stores as well as generalissimo of five army
corps. Later on he found himself face to face with the Blower. The latter had learnt from the magician Page 146how to store in his chest a supply of yellow gas which, when he blew it out, annihilated anyone whom it struck. By this means
he caused large gaps to be made in the ranks of the enemy.

Being opposed to each other, the one snorting out great streaks of white light, the other blowing streams of yellow gas, the
combat continued until the Blower was wounded in the shoulder by No-cha, of the army of Chou, and pierced in the stomach with
a spear by Huang Fei-hu, Yellow Flying Tiger.

The Snorter in turn was slain in this fight by Marshal Chin Ta-shêng, ‘Golden Big Pint,’ who was an ox-spirit and endowed
with the mysterious power of producing in his entrails the celebrated niu huang, ox-yellow, or bezoar. Facing the Snorter, he spat in his face, with a noise like thunder, a piece of bezoar as large as
a rice-bowl. It struck him on the nose and split his nostrils. He fell to the earth, and was immediately cut in two by a blow
from his victor’s sword.

After the Chou dynasty had been definitely established Chiang Tzŭ-ya canonized the two marshals Hêng and Ha, and conferred
on them the offices of guardians of the Buddhist temple gates, where their gigantic images may be seen.